Doctors believe the 22-year-old Christchurch man is charmed after surviving his second near-fatal workplace accident.

In his latest brush with death, Grant, 22, was pinned between a beam and a ram bracket on a rotating dairy platform and only managed to wrench himself free with seconds to spare before his head would have been "crushed to pieces".

Grant, who could also be described as pretty unlucky, lost an arm in 2009 when he was pulled into a conveyor belt working at a limestone quarry.

Last Tuesday, the Canterbury University student was in a dairy shed near Hinds doing maintenance work.

"I was looking over a top rail and right next to one side of my head was a ram bracket and right next to the other side there was the beam from the roof of the shed.

"It instantly pinned me between the two when it started rotating . . . my body kept going and it just pushed me further."

Certain he was going to die, Grant said wrestling free was "all a bit of a blur".

"Somehow, I don't know how but I managed to get out," he said.

"I thought it was going to take my head off, it should have taken my head off."

After an employee raced to his aid, Grant was rushed to Ashburton Hospital before ending up in the Christchurch Hospital emergency department.

On impact, the bracket had been forced into his neck and doctors were sure he would require surgery to repair major damage. But it had pierced his neck right between two major arteries. If it had nicked even one, it could have been fatal.

"Because it missed absolutely everything, and the bracket was brand new they just put me on antibiotics," he said.

Grant was discharged and sent home on bed rest yesterday.

He described losing his arm as a "very narrow escape". The belt, he said, "tore my arm off right on the spot". "They thought I should have bled to death."

His doctors still cannot believe he has escaped with his life in two such near misses.

Grant said the remainder of the year would be spent focusing on finishing his degree, and he was "looking for an office job now".

His mother Minnie also has strict instructions from hospital staff.

"The surgeon just told me to go and buy a Big Wednesday and a Lotto ticket. They're just absolutely blown away. Someone wants him to be here," she said. ASHLEIGH STEWART